Hard Wired: A First Love Second Chance Romance

by Aria Mitchell

  Hard Wired

  A First Love Second Chance Romance

  Aria Mitchell

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  1

  To some people, I would never be just Marissa Hill. Sure, I’d always be a wild girl with a love for animals, and an older brother I never really got along with, but that wasn’t the point; To some, I’d never be just Marissa.

  I always hated coming out to the golf course. It wasn’t that I hated the sport, or disliked the greenery, it was that walking across it always took ages. Sure, I probably could’ve borrowed a golf cart by dropping Henry’s name, but it seemed a bit wrong to bring him a job offer on his company’s dime. He was a part of the crew that maintained the golf resort’s greens, and though he sometimes worked insane hours and never got a break from the heat or sun, he claimed he loved it. Though, it was sometimes hard to believe whatever came out of his mouth.

  Once upon a time the pair of us had been close friends, best even, but it had been a few months since I’d last seen him. Really, I’d been keeping my distance on purpose, given I’d been seeing someone and Henry had been rather standoffish. Though, he’d been that way for far too many years now.

  Long before I reached him he’d stopped what he was doing. His rake stood upright, giving him something to lean against as he smirked far too casually at me.

  Somehow, he had a way of making me feel overly sexy when I had on overalls, a plain t-shirt, and some Ked’s. I guess maybe it was the country boy’s dream.

  “Well well,” Henry drawled, “ look what the cat dragged in, if it ain’t gator girl.”

  His eyes raked up and down my form, as if he was remembering that first night as vividly as I was. My cheeks flushed.

  “Hi Henry.”

  “You married yet?” He spit at the question as an unfortunate side effect of his tobacco habit. Still, his choice of chew smelled strong of cloves, and I’d always been a fan of the aromatics on his breath. “With uh, what’s his name… Josh?”

  “No.” My bleach blonde hair shook into my eyes, “we broke up a little while back.”

  “And you didn’t tell me?” Henry’s whistle of disappointment was reason enough for me to have kept it a secret. “Come on gator girl…”

  That. That was what was why I hadn’t told him. It had been three years now since the night I’d first slept with Henry, and three years since the night he’d given me that nickname that I loved and hated equally. I’d never really meant for it to happen, though wasn’t that what everyone said when they did something they weren’t certain of?

  It was no secret the man was handsome with his sandy blonde hair that always had at least a couple of blades of grass in it, and his soft green eyes that often reminded me of the very greens we stood upon. He seemed natural out here somehow, as if the rich assholes that paid to play here didn’t belong in his domain. That wasn’t even that much of a stretch to imagine, given he put his sweat and blood into making the courses flawless as they were.

  Anyway, he’d been terribly handsome, I’d been into him, and one night we had sex on the back of his Gator… his utility vehicle he used out here on the course. Sure, it wasn’t the most romantic of places, but Henry, unfortunately, hadn’t been much for legitimately opening up over the years.

  My eyes squinted then as I stared up at him. Beyond his height the sun was setting, and across the far stretches of the greens the horizon lay swathed in a deep orange. Though the closest person was hundreds of feet off, it was loud out there on the course, as the cicadas hadn’t yet given up on their loud song.

  “I didn’t come here to flirt with you, Henry.” That much was at least partially true.

  “Ouch, cutting right to the chase, are ya? So what is it? Why’d you come?”

  Heavily I sighed, “because my dad sent me. He still wants you to sign.”

  “Well come on, let me me see it.” Henry’s hand thrust out expectantly, as if he hadn’t already read the contract hundreds of times before. I handed it over, and watched as his eyes drifted across the pages in a speed-read. He may have talked like a country boy, but he wasn’t stupid.

  “You could smile, you know,” I muttered at the partial scowl that had settled on his face. It was one he always had when things weren’t going precisely his way.

  “And why would I?” He thrust the paper back at me, “your daddy don’t know shit about the Taphouse.”

  It sort of hurt to hear him say that. The Taphouse was my dad’s restaurant, and was a huge part of his life. Unfortunately, my brother Talon already took over the real estate business, and I wasn’t much into beer. With my father as busy as he was and looking at potential retirement, he needed someone to take over. After all these years he trusted Henry, apparently more than anyone else, as he was the one he sent these contracts to year after year. He wanted him to take it over, to come under his wing and eventually to take the keys.

  “Come on Henry, he does, too. How do you think he built that thing if he-”

  “Look, I’m not doing it, okay?”

  “He trusts you.” Exasperated, I sigh. How could someone throw away a chance like this? “He wants your input, he knows you’d be great at it.”

  “And I don’t care. It’s not about the money. I’m not signing on under your dad.”

  I supposed I couldn’t really blame him, but still… “Two years. That’s all it’ll take. Two years and the business would be yours. Is it really worth saying no right now? Shouldn’t you at least think about it?”

  “How many times has he asked me, huh? How many times have I already seen those damn papers and turned him down? It’s not like this is the first time, and you know it.” I could see the muscles in his neck tighten with the clench of his jaw. “I’ve got work to do.”

  Into the nearest sand dune he dropped, leaving him a couple of feet shorter than me as he set to raking out the pristine sand. I didn’t know much about golfing, but I could tell that this part of the course didn’t need more work.

  “Henry,” I pleaded.

  “I’m happy here,” he snapped in sharp contrast to his words. “I like my job, I like not being under someone’s thumb. I’m not doing it, end of story. I don’t need to be part of the Mark Hill fan club.”

  “The… what?” My brow pinched in upset as I jumped down into the sand beside him. “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “It means not everyone worships the man like you do.”

  “I do not!” I may have been much smaller, and Henry’s may have been built like a tree, but that didn’t stop me from smacking his arm hard as I could. Unfortunately, it left me with a stinging palm and him with an annoying glimmer of amusement in his eyes.

  “Could’ve fooled me.”

  “Come on, I fucking don’t.” So much so, that I crumpled up the papers then and threw them at his feet.

  “Oh yeah?” From his hand he shoved the rake, letting it fall to the ground with a thud as he stepped closer. A foot still remained between us and already I could smell the cloves, bug spray, and fresh cut grass on him. I’d always preferred that over obnoxious cologne.

  “Yes,” I snapped, having already forgotten precisely what we were arguing about.

  “Is that why you’re out here doing his bidding, then?”

  My mouth fell open the
n as I refrained from shoving at his chest. It wouldn’t have done me any good anyway; It probably would have ended with me falling on my ass and him standing there laughing at me.

  “I’m not doing his bidding,” I quickly sputtered, “I came here to ask you something.”

  “Well, let’s hear it then.” His hands thrust into the pockets of his jeans as he continued to stare me down with a heat in his eyes that anyone could see. Problem was, all he ever wanted was just heat… just sex, and nothing more.

  I was, at times, a bit hopeless though, and missed the old Henry, the one before everything happened that used to actually open up.

  “Elizabeth asked me if you were coming to the party tomorrow night,” I said, and it wasn’t a lie, but Elizabeth hadn’t been reason enough for me to bring it up. “You know, the Corner Roast? With the pig pickin’?” It was an annual event downtown, to gather the community, and this year Elizabeth, my friend, was helping to organize it. “Anyway, I wasn’t sure if you were going or not, so I thought I’d ask.”

  The green of Henry’s eyes pulled away from me then and stared off toward the diminishing sunset. Only a thin ribbon of glowing amber remained on the horizon, and he seemed more apt to look at it than answer my question.

  “You haven’t been in so long,” I said.

  All he answered with was another spit of tobacco juice that dampened his perfect sand dune. Glancing down at it, he sighed.

  “Just… give it a try,” I pleaded, “I’m sure if you came, you’d have a great time.”

  His lips curled then, devilishly, as he closed what little gap remained between us. My chin was forced upward to meet his gaze, and already I felt short of breath in such close proximity.

  “You want me to come, huh?”

  “Shut. Up.” I warned with a snapping click of my tongue. Part of me hated him for being so closed off, and the rest of me hated myself for falling into his traps. “I just wanted to let Elizabeth know one way or another.”

  “Liar.”

  “Shut up!” I shoved him then, or tried as my palms slammed hard against his chest. What I hadn’t expected was for Henry to suddenly topple over backward with a hurried grasp of my wrist. I had no choice but to fall as he yanked me down, my chin jamming into the space under his collar bone as I fell fully atop him. I was sprawled all over him, across the solid mass of his chest, and the solid lengths of his legs.

  Even more annoyingly, I rose and fell to the steady cadence of his breath.

  “I hate you,” I growled, but we both knew it wasn’t true.

  “Yeah, that must really be why you came all this way.” His finger hooked around the strap of my overalls, pinning me in place. Not that I was fighting very hard to get away. “Could’ve just sent me a text,” he drawled on.

  “You don’t answer them.” My palms splayed across the flat of his chest in my weak attempt to lift myself off of him.

  His finger only curled more tightly, drawing me further into the hot stream of his breath. I hadn’t touched him in months, and already as my tongue absentmindedly swiped at my parched lips I swore I could taste him on them.

  “Maybe,” he said, “you came here for something else.” His lips curled into a grin that had his teeth sparkling in what little moonlight had lifted into the sky. “‘Cause if it’s another go on the Gator you want, well, we can make that happen.”

  “Fuck you.” With a hurried swat I shoved his hand away and rolled off of him into the thick of the dune. My canvas shoes were no match as sand quickly found its way into my socks as I sunk in my slowed escape.

  It was far less dramatic than I would have hoped.

  “Offer still stands, Marissa! You want a ride, you know where to find me.”

  My teeth grit, and I dared not turn back. Even through the dim lit I worried he’d see the rise of heat that marred my cheeks. “Yeah well,” I shouted back instead, “you change your mind, you know where to find my dad!”

  “Nah, he’s not my type!”

  Henry could be a real asshole sometimes.

  2

  I would have been lying to myself if I’d said I hadn’t been looking for Henry all afternoon at the Corner Roast. Half of the town was there, at least, half of the locals were there. The golf course alone sometimes doubled the population in tourists alone, but they were somehow scared off by the whole pig we had roasting over flame.

  There wasn’t really much else to do down at Fincastle Riverfront, and though I had already eaten my fair share of actual pulled pork and enough corn muffins to feed an army, my dad was trying to get me to eat more. He’d been like that though, ever since mom had left years back.

  “Your aunt brought some of her famous cole slaw, have you had any of that?” He asked of the thousandth food item.

  “Dad, I’m fine. I’m going to explode if you try to get me to eat more.” My stomach already ached with how much I’d shoved in it, but it was hard when the very air you breathed smelled like every picnic you’ve ever been on combined into one.

  “I just want to make sure you’re eating enough. What if-”

  “Oh, hey dad, I see Elizabeth.” My interruption was swiftly softened with a kiss against his cheek, “I’ve gotta go make sure she isn’t losing her mind.”

  “Oh, okay, well, tell her I said hi!”

  I ran off before he could stop me, his voice vanishing into the wind.

  Making my way to Elizabeth was like running through a maze of memories. Everyone was down on the riverfront, from my old third grade teacher Mrs. Darlton, to the woman who’d been my first babysitter when I was six.

  I’d tortured that poor girl - not on purpose of course - but every time she left the room I hid in progressively more obscure spots until the point she thought I was gone for good. Not even Talon, my older brother by four years could find me.

  The cops ended up coming, and I learned that day that some pranks can go too far.

  “Elizabeth! How you holding together?”

  “Me?” Small peels of laughter that sounded like they’d come from a teenager burst from her lips. Immediately I knew the reason as she waggled a half-finished beer bottle in front of me. It couldn’t have been her first, but it didn’t take much for a girl as small as she was to feel a bit of a lift when her brain went haywire.

  “Are you kidding me?” She went on the moment her laughter subsided, “I’m great. Look at this place.”

  Sure enough, the turnout was huge, and though she hadn’t actually done all of the cooking or setting up, all of the background planning this year had been on her hands. Elizabeth loved Monmouth, and I couldn’t imagine her ever leaving.

  “Well, I mean, I guess you did alright.” The upward curl of my lips betrayed the flatness of my voice, and had Elizabeth jabbing me playfully in the ribs.

  “Come on, I did way better than alright.”

  “Okay, you’re right. You did amazing, and per usual I’m proud of you.”

  Elizabeth couldn’t have looked more excited as her small features lit up bright as the sun.

  “As you should be,” she mused. “Oh hey, the other day I saw Henry working outside…”

  “Oh, yeah?” I masked my curiosity with mere indifference. Elizabeth had no idea the sexual tension between Henry and I, and if I had anything to do with it, it would stay that way.

  “He was shirtless, and oh my God, those abs.” It wouldn’t have been far fetched to imagine Elizabeth fainting right there in the middle of the riverfront and she did nothing to curb the image as she fanned at her face.

  Beer dribbled down Elizabeth’s chin as she paused halfway through a sip with some bright thought. “Is he coming? Did you ask him? I mean, when you brought those papers from your dad.”

  “Yeah,” I shrugged casually as I remembered the feel of Henry’s abs beneath me. “I mean, I tried, but you know how he is.”

  Elizabeth’s face flattened dramatically. “What, incredibly sexy?”

  My arms slid across my chest. “If you think so, why ha
ven’t you told him that?” I don’t even know why I said it - the last thing I would ever want would be for Elizabeth to come onto Henry. The very thought made me shiver with upset, and it angered me even more that I cared.

  “I guess I’ve never been drunk enough,” Elizabeth said with a giggle as she finished off her beer. It wouldn’t take much more for her to hit that level. “But come on,” she whined suddenly like only drunk people could, “he’s like, a ten, and I’m not.”

  “Elizabeth,” I said with a swing of my arm around her shoulders, “you are a ten and a half. Got that?”

  Her dark brown eyes brightened. “You mean it?”

  “Would I ever lie to you?” Was withholding information about Henry lying? I hurriedly decided it wasn’t. “Besides, Henry is just so-”

  “Amazing?”

  I sighed at Elizabeth’s insistence and decided it was best just to let it go. There would never be any convincing her that Henry wasn’t the best thing since sliced bread. He was attractive, sure, but everything that went on in that head of his was locked away like a steel trap. He’d never let anyone in.

  “Tal alert,” Elizabeth murmured as I caught sight of my older brother making his way through the crowd like he owned the place. He sort of always carried himself that way though, like he was better than everyone else and could always get what he wanted.

  Aggravatingly enough, he usually did.

  He swung my way, sporting the same dark brown hair I always tried to hide under a bleach blonde dye job.

  “Hey, did you get a chance to talk to Henry about the offer?” He asked me. So much for hello.

  “Yeah, I did.”

  “And?”

  “And what do you think?” It wasn’t as if the years had changed Henry’s answer.

  Talon snorted and stole a moment to chug half of his beer. “I think he’s an idiot that’s looking a gift horse in the mouth.”